Nigeria were knocked out of the Under-20 Women’s World Cup via the Netherlands on Sunday to quit African involvement in the event in Costa Rica.
The Dutch won the quarter-final tie 2-0 thanks to first-half goals from Zera Hulswit and Ziva Henry in Alajuela.
Hulswit fired in a half-volley in the 11th minute after a terrible clearance through Nigeria captain Oluwatosin Demehin.
The Falconets created many chances in both half, with a long-range effort via Deborah Balogun coming off the crossbar on the 1/2 hour mark.
Another poor clearance from Demehin allowed Henry to pounce and steer the ball via the legs of goalkeeper Monle Oyono in the 33rd minute.Group-stage stars Esther Onyenezide and Flourish Sabastine both went shut for Nigeria however the Dutch noticed out the remainder of the contest to attain the last four.
The West Africans were awarded a penalty in second-half stoppage time for a handball, but the decision was overturned following a video assistant referee review.
The Nigerians had sailed into the closing eight with a perfect record following victories over France, South Korea and Canada, and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) noted poor officiating for the team’s exit.
“A litany of factors, including poor finishing, hard success and dodgy officiating noticed the Nigeria female bow out,” the NFF stated in a statement.
Nigeria have played at each edition of the Women’s Under-20 World Cup, however lost in the tournament’s remaining in 2010 and 2014 to Germany.
The Netherlands will face Spain in the semi-finals on Thursday, whilst Brazil will take on defending champions Japan.
